2004-05 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Basketball Cards

2004-05 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Basketball may not have made as big a splash as the brand's debut a year earlier, but it's no sophomore slump either. Once again setting the standard for ultra high-end products, the release brings together low print runs, a stellar checklist, autographs and premium memorabilia pieces.

The 2004-05 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection set has 90 cards. All 42 veteran base cards are limited to 225 numbered copies. Rookies cards come in two tiers. Tier 2 are more common, numbered to 225. Six Tier 1 rookie cards anchor the end of the checklist and have 99 copies each. All rookie subset cards come autographed. The majority come with a patch swatch also.

The rookie card roster doesn't come close to the classic list that helped make 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite so great. However, the 2004-05 Upper Deck Exqusite Collection Basketball Dwight Howard rookie is one of the most popular in the brand's history. Other rookie cards include Ben Gordon and Andre Iguodala.

Besides the rookie cards, autographs and patch cards from top NBA players help drive the product. All come numbered to 100. Highlights combine top players with on-card autographs and unique swatches. In particular, the one-of-one Autographed Dual NBA Logoman Patches always command a lot of attention on the rare occasions that they do pop up. All NBA Access Pass takes the logo patch even further, delivering three complete logoman jersey patches. However, these one-of one cards are not signed.

Collectors will be hard-pressed to find many common players in any of the insert sets. Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird and Kevin Garnett are among the superstars with autographs and memorabilia cards in the product.

2004-05 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection boxes come with five cards. This includes a minimum of one autographed patch card and one memorabilia card.

Ryan Cracknell | E-Mail Author
Ryan's collecting origins began with winter bike rides to the corner store, tossing a couple of quarters onto the counter and peddling home with a couple packs of O-Pee-Chee hockey in his pocket. Today, he continues to build sets, go after inserts with cool technologies, chase Montreal Expos and finish off his John Jaha master collection. Ryan can be found on Twitter @tradercracks and Google+.